I recently read about a study that found nearly half of all moms suffer from Pinterest stress. Apparently, 42 percent of mothers worry that they are not crafty or creative enough for their growing families.  They worry about keeping up with what others are doing, and the self-induced pressure for perfection keeps many moms up [...]

Last week Evie came home from school with a homework assignment from her wonderful pre-school teachers: build a leprechaun trap. Chris had to work late every night last week, so the leprechaun trap gave the kids and I something fun to work on after dinner. I had never heard of a leprechaun trap before, but [...]

Chicago (finally) got a bit of winter weather yesterday.  The sleet started around 10 am, and the snow continued through the night. For this lifelong Midwesterner, however, the few inches on the ground this morning were but a pittance. Mack loves playing in the snow, but yesterday’s weather was wet and icy so we stayed [...]

As I’ve written about before, my Mack is a force to be reckoned with.  He needs to keep busy or else he’s causing trouble.  When I saw a recipe on Pinterest for beads made out of pasta I knew it would be a fun activity for us to do together.  He and I had the [...]

Chris and I have had an ongoing discussion about toys for the past six weeks. We have plenty of them in our house. And with Christmas on the way we’re about to have plenty more added. But, the problem is that our kids just don’t really play with many of their toys. Mack loves cars, [...]

With winter settling upon our fair city, the kids and I need more indoor activities to wile away the snowy afternoons.  Chicago is due for a decent winter storm on Thursday, so we’ll probably do some fun Christmas themed activities like cookie baking or movie watching with homemade hot chocolate.  Sometimes the most fun afternoons [...]

This afternoon was such a lovely surprise.  After a hectic lunch hour filled with sibling rivalry the likes of which I see all too often, I wasn’t expecting a peaceful remainder of the day.  But, some Christmas cheer rescued the day and I now have some of my most favorite memories from 2012. Today’s holiday [...]

One of my absolute favorite places in the city is the Chicago Children’s Museum. We buy an annual membership, so we freely come and go as we please.  Its a great place to visit on a chilly afternoon when we feel like we have the whole place to ourselves. We’ve been to the Museum dozens [...]

Last Sunday Chris and the guys went out for a steak dinner and then to the Bears game at Soldier Field. Rather than spend the night alone with the kids, I invited my sisters, mom and grandma over for dinner and crafts. I am certainly not a crafty girl, but its fun to gather ladies [...]

Lately, I’ve been extraordinarily stressed.  With three kids and only one me, I’m always worried that there just isn’t enough time in the day to make all of them feel loved and special and attended to. At the end of every day I realize that I literally have nothing left to give.  I am spent. [...]